Friday, November 22, 2013

I have recently been sent several snapshots of another's Kenda painting. His father bought it some time ago and the son wants to keep it because it reminds him of his dad.

The photos are, as I say, snapshots and from different angles, such that the painting appears greenish in two photos and yellowish in another, very likely because it reflects the color off of the walls, the flash and other surroundings.

This painting appears to have been created at the beginning of what I term Karl's Cosmic Period or Psychedelic Period. It contains only the single color (green, I think) and has the palette knife figures that became his trademark during this period. In later paintings, he generally used brighter colors and more of them.

The theme of the painting appears to be a precursor to his "The King Is Dead" painting, which he never intended to sell and which was in his living room for years. His widow still owns it and I always liked it a great deal, as well.

Karl generally used wooden frames, many from Mexico, and this painting has apparently been placed in a more modern frame. Karl did sell paintings without frames, so we cannot be certain that the old frame was replaced or if Karl never had it in a frame. I suspect this painting was on Masonite, as were many of Karl's works, although he also used canvas, as well.

One of these three snapshots in particular illustrates quite well how the palette knife figures popped out at one as three-dimensional.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A fellow by the name of Thomas Bernard contacted me, to tell me that he had bought a Kenda painting, some years back, and wanted to show it to me. It is of a sunset and I decided to title it as such, "Sunset." From the subject matter, I believe it to be from Karl's Late Period, the late 1970s. It is very colorful and Thomas says he very much likes it and proudly displays it on a wall in his home. Photo taken by Thomas Bernard.

About Me

Graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology in 1973. Prior to that, I attended North Miami High School and graduated in 1969.

I am a past Conservation Chairman for Broward County Audubon Society and a present member in good standing of American Mensa.

I have worked for Rockwell Int'l in Richardson, TX, and for the Air Force in GA and presently own a small air cleaner company, Pure Air Systems, Inc., in South Florida. As a sideline, I repair old/antique furniture, primarily reweaving rush, cane, wicker and Danish cord seats.

In recent years, I have taken up working with leather, making various items for fun. It was suggested to me that I should offer these things for sale, so I set up an Etsy.com account in order to do just that. Should the viewer be interested, my "shop" is entitled ArnoldsLeatherGoods; one word.

I have spent a great deal of time in tracking down old classmates/schoolmates from kindergarten days to college and have reunited a fair number of old friends with each other. I have instigated our FIT reunions for those of us who graduated with BSEEs in '73. Our first reunion was a rousing success. I decided to invite EEs of all degrees from the two years prior to '73 and two years after '73 to join us in 2013. I was unable to locate many of the schoolmates from those other four years and the 2013 reunion was rather sparsely attended. The next one will be in 2018 in Melbourne during the school's Homecoming week . I have four more years to track these fellows down and I hope our next attempt will be more successful.

I am also on my high school reunion committee, trying to track down missing alumni and determine which ones may have died; when, where and how, if possible.

I have had some chronic pain problems in the last several years, but still keep my hand in on conservation and especially animal (wildlife and domestic) welfare issues.